Napa Valley Welcomes Visitors After Quake

Aug 29, 2014

(Wine-Searcher) - More than 95 percent of wineries, restaurants and hotels in Napa Valley are functioning as usual.

With Labor Day weekend about to start in the U.S., Napa Valley would like you to know that it is open for business.

Sunday's 6.0-magnitude earthquake damaged more than 60 buildings in the southernmost part of the county. But for those who aren't familiar with Napa geography, it's worth noting that the great majority of the county's 525 wineries, including the most famous ones, are far enough north that their businesses didn't miss a beat.

As of Wednesday, 95 percent of the county's wineries were open as usual, along with 98 percent of the county's hotels and 95 percent of the county's restaurants, according to the Visit Napa Valley trade organization. The only ones not open are in the city of Napa, which took the brunt of the estimated $2 billion quake damage. But even there, the tourism industry would like you to come, look around and spend some money.

"The great concern is that people will just stay away," said Carolyn Wente, chairman of the California Wine Institute. "Most facilities are open and most are just fine."

The Napa Valley Vintners are still working on an estimate of losses to the wine industry, but while some wineries like Lagier-Meredith suffered extreme losses from broken barrels, in many cases the damage is turning out to not be as bad as first feared.

A few hours after the earthquake, B.R. Cohn winemaker Tom Montgomery told the Associated Press that the winery had lost "as much as 50 percent" of its wine. On Wednesday, the winery issued a press release saying, "As we sift through things, it’s clear that estimate was not accurate, fortunately. It looks more like 10 or 15 percent [of the 2013 vintage]."


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